INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS (IOs)
What are IOs?
And what do they do?
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International Organizations
Public
IGOs
Embedded Formal Institutions
International Financial Institutions
MDBs
World Bank
Regional Development
Banks
IMF BIS
UN Family WTO
Informal Institutional Arrangements (eg. G-7,
G-20, G-77)
Private for Profit
MNCs
Private Non-Profit
International NGOs (eg. Amnesty
International)
Public/Private
International Union for the
Conservation of Nature
International Organization of
Securities Commission
International Standards
Organization
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Total Active Organizations (INGOs and
IGOs)
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Share of Organizations by Region and Time
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NGOs with UN Consultative Status, by Status Category
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Why do we need IOs?
• IOs are institutionalized forms of international cooperation and multilateralism
• Rational states will use or create a formal IO when the value of its functions outweighs the costs, notably the resulting limits on unilateral action
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What do IOs do?
• Facilitate the negotiation and implementation of agreements
• Resolve disputes and manage conflicts
• Enforce compliance with international commitments
• Develop norms, rules and standards
• Shape international discourse
• Carry out operational activities like technical assistance
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IOs and International Trade Liberalization
• ITO => non-starter • GATT (1947-1994)
– Lower tariffs – Non-tariff barriers and anti-dumping – Non-discrimination – “Rounds”
• Kennedy Round (1963-67) • Tokyo Round (1973-79) • Uruguay Round (1986-94) led to the creation of the WTO
• WTO (1995-present) • PTAs • World Bank • IMF
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Functional Characteristics of IOs
• Centralization – Collective activities through an organization often with a
permanent secretariat – This increases the efficiency of collective activities and
enhance the organization's ability to affect the understandings, environment, and interests of states
• Independence – the ability to act with a degree of autonomy within defined
spheres. – Neutrality is critical for the legitimacy of specifc actions
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Theoretical Approaches
• Regime theory – Regimes: "institutions possessing norms, decision rules, and
procedures which facilitate a convergence of expectations." Focus on institutional organization of intl. cooperation
• Decentralized cooperation theory (Delegation) – coordination and collaboration problems requires collective
action; this requires IOs to address info. and transaction costs
• Realist theory – IOs are not serious entities; they merely reflect national
interests & power and do not constrain powerful states
• Constructivist theory – IOs are (in part) both reflections of and participants in ongoing
social processes and creating international norms Devesh Kapur/UPenn
Designing IOs
• Functions and Goals
• Membership criteria
• Governance
• Financing
• Leadership
• Location
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QUESTIONS
• Do weak or strong states prefer IOs?
• Which IOs should India join?
• What price – financial and non-financial –should India be willing to pay?
• Which interests are represented and how?
• When are India’s interests best served through bilateral, regional, plurilateral or global IOs?
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Is India a…
• Rule taker?
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Is India a…
• Rule taker?
• Rule bender?
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Is India a…
• Rule taker?
• Rule bender?
• Rule breaker?
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Is India a…
• Rule taker?
• Rule bender?
• Rule breaker?
• Rule shaper?
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Is India a…
• Rule taker?
• Rule bender?
• Rule breaker?
• Rule shaper?
• Rule maker?
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India and Multilateralism
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India and Multilateralism Historical Trends
• Expansive Internationalism
– Nehruvian heyday: Independence to the China war
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India and Multilateralism Historical Trends
• Expansive Internationalism
– Nehruvian heyday: Independence to the China war
• Dysfunctional Multilateralism
– Mid-1960s to the end of the cold war
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India and Multilateralism Historical Trends
• Expansive Internationalism
– Nehruvian heyday: Independence to the China war
• Dysfunctional Multilateralism
– Mid-1960s to the end of the cold war
• Defensive Internationalism and Renewed Regionalism
– Post cold war
– Gujral doctrine
– “Look East”
– BRICs; BIMSTEC etc… Devesh Kapur/UPenn
India and Multilateralism What factors have shaped Indian views? I. Ideas
• Holy Grail of
– “Strategic Autonomy”
– Sovereignty and Non-intervention
• Ambiguity and skepticism about the West
• Discomfort with Power
• Confusion about its international identity
– Status-quo or a status-seeking power?
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India and Multilateralism What factors have shaped Indian views? II. Domestic factors
• The Economy
– From self-reliance to economic interdependence
• Domestic Politics
– Internal conflict
– Political competition
– Rise of regional parties
• Rise of new actors shaping foreign policy
– Business
– Media and Public opinion
– Diaspora Devesh Kapur/UPenn
India and Multilateralism What factors have shaped Indian views?
III. Changing International System
• Early years of Cold War
– Non-alignment, NAM
• Later years of Cold War
– Aligning with Soviet Union
– G-77
• End of Cold War and rise of China
– Regionalism
– G-20
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CHALLENGES
• Does membership of increasing number of IOs, increase or constrain strategic autonomy?
• Changing nature of conflict from international to civil wars: India’s views on R2
• India’s role in UN Peacekeeping
• Which IOs?
– BRICS bank?
– “Concert of democracies”?
– Overcoming the South Asia impasse: should it be more welcoming of extra-regional multilaterals?
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India’s Stake in Multilateralism
• Economic regimes
– trade; finance
• Security regimes
– maritime; space; cyber
• Environment and Energy
– Climate change
• Human security
– Human rights; global food regime
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